The art world is full of different perspectives, but some people do not have access to these spaces.
Artist and arts educator Mollie Hosmer-Dillard saw the lack of representation in gallery spaces in Salt Lake City as an opportunity for collaboration with incarcerated youth and community members in the Salt Lake City area. "Dissolving Contradictions" is the product of that opportunity.
“I pitched this idea to do this hugely inclusive painting that people from all different kinds of communities could participate [in]," she said.
Her idea was a multi-vocal painting — a process that involves dividing a painting into smaller pieces, and having different community members create art around a central theme to be recombined into one art piece.
“This actually has potential because the way that the pieces fit together seamlessly, kind of like a puzzle, allows many different people to paint in different ways and it for it to be combined,” Hosmer-Dillard said.
For "Dissolving Contradictions," participants at more than 35 workshops focused on the theme of clouds. The idea for this multi-vocal painting came from a similar piece, created by and with students in Utah Tech University’s incarcerated youth program.
“My own personal take on this and the motivation for me to do this work is encapsulated by a quote: ‘Each of us is more than the worst thing that we've ever done.’ I think that's a huge motivator for working in these spaces education, but also art making,” she said.
The students Hosmer-Dillard taught in the program focused on surrealism, freedom and the possibility offered by a blank canvas. Their personal narrative paintings will also be featured in the show.
“One of the big takeaways from working with all these different groups was something about the absolute validity and value of every single person,” she said.
The exhibition works to showcase different perspectives on how the world is and how it can be imagined.
"Dissolving Contradictions" will be on display at the Salt Lake City Library from Dec. 5-Jan. 4.
